Christie van der Haak & Suzan Drummen, Once upon a time…; Escher in The Palace, The Hague

In the museum Escher in The Palace is presently a show with works by Christie van der Haak (1950) and Suzan Drummen (1963) in the palace’s ball room and so called green room.

Drummen has composed a work on the floor in the ball room with pieces of glass and other small shiny objects.

She usually improvises her works and in this case it has become a cosmos of wonder around a big reflecting half sphere.

Van der Haak has given the ball room a radical restyling with her patterns which are, appropriately, colourful but also dignified.

Her patterns are on the walls, in the wonderful carpet, in the stylish chairs and even in a glass vase, one of her more recent projects.

In the so called green room there is a close co-operation between the two artists and even – posthumously – with Donald Judd (1928-1994) who designed the palace’s floor patterns.

Seeing this wonderful show one inadvertently gets the idea that this palace is far more suitable for shows concerning style and its impact and peculiarities than for Escher’s work.

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to the artists and Escher in The Palce, Den Haag.

Bertus Pieters

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Asynchronous; Nouvelles Images, The Hague

Miek Hoekzema

There is good news and there is sad news.

Raquel van Haver

Raquel van Haver

Raquel van Haver

Gean Moreno

Let’s start with the good news: there is a wonderful summer show at Nouvelles Images.

Gean Moreno

Gean Moreno

Carlson Hatton

It is curated by Michael Tedja (1971) and it has become a, what you might call, particularly rhythmic exhibition.

Carlson Hatton

Carlson Hatton

Carlson Hatton

That results sometimes in some, what i would call, high density works like Carlson Hatton’s (1974) works on paper, Miek Hoekzema’s (1973) video, Radcliffe Bailey’s (1968) collages or even some colourful works by Moshekwa Langa (1975).

Carlson Hatton

Ronald Ophuis

Ronald Ophuis

They are “high density” in that they have more to show in one square foot than the eye can absorb in one view.

Moshekwa Langa

Moshekwa Langa

Dwight Marica

One colour or detail will distract you from another and so make your eyes jump, sometimes from dreams to nightmares.

Dwight Marica

Dwight Marica

Dwight Marica

That in fact also happens with the whole show; it plunges you from one aspect of society into another, from Samson Kambalu’s (1975) almost meditative Boat video’s – presented as a kind of diptych – to Richard Bott’s (1972)  alternative disidentified icons for different internet media and to Ronald Ophuis’ (1968) macabre paintings.

Dwight Marica

Dwight Marica

Dwight Marica

Being happy that art galleries are one of the few places without irritating background music, i think this show makes clear that there is enough music in the works themselves and the way they are selected and presented.

Michael Tedja

Michael Tedja

Evren Tekinoktay

The sad news is that this is Nouvelles Images’ penultimate show.

Evren Tekinoktay

Richard Bott

Richard Bott

The gallery will close its doors on October 1^st.

Samson Kambalu

Samson Kambalu

Samson Kambalu

It means the oldest and one of the biggest commercial galleries in the Netherlands will stop existing.

Liv Yiva

Liv Yiva

Liv Yiva

Especially for The Hague this will be a great loss as the gallery’s space makes it more like a small museum.

Liv Yiva

Miek Hoekzema

Miek Hoekzema

Sad though this is, i look back with gratitude for what Nouvelles Images has shown.

Miek Hoekzema

Miek Hoekzema

Radcliffe Bailey

Dwight Marica

As such, the present show might be an inspiration for whatever the future will bring.

Dwight Marica

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs  courtesy to all artists, Galerie Nouvelles Images and to all other with this show associated galleries.

Bertus Pieters

Soundwaves, Dick Raaijmakers and Sonologie; GEM, The Hague

Dick Raaijmakers

Dick Raaijmakers (1930-2013) was a great pioneer in electronic acoustics, in its technique but also as a composer.

Dick Raaijmakers

Dick Raaijmakers

In fact he was such a multifaceted and inventive figure that looking at his heritage all descriptions of him seem to fall short.

Dick Raaijmakers

Dick Raaijmakers

Presently GEM honours him by showing his Ideophone III of 1971, and works by younger artists, who, in one way or another, have followed in his footsteps.

Dick Raaijmakers

Dick Raaijmakers

Of the other works Yota Morimoto’s (1981) look the most akin to Raaijmakers’ Ideophone in their sculptural qualities.

Dick Raaijmakers

Dick Raaijmakers

One could call them, with some modernist aplomb, sculptures of sound, with the notion that creating sound waves not just generates sounds and vibrations but also forms with an aesthetics dictated by technology.

Babara Ellison, Dick Raaijmakers

In Barbara Ellison’s (1973) work Phantasmas Materialis the whole idea of sculpture is meant to be turned into the imagination of the visitor who can listen and see (inward or outward) from the comfort of a lounge chair.

Bram Vreven

Bram Vreven

The extremely soft and silent work by Bram Vreven (1973) just shows vibrations in an almost classicist white way.

Matthias König

Matthias König

Matthias König

Matthias König

Matthias König

Matthias König

Matthias König

In his great installation Das ist die Tradition: Du füllst das Glas und trinkst es leer (That is the tradition: you fill the glass and drink it empty) Matthias König (1987) refers to German carnival traditions, their deep rooted pre-Christian  popular customs and exuberance, mixed with present day sound and colour systems.

Matthias König

Matthias König

Matthias König

Matthias König

Matthias König

Matthias König

Video and sound (from his own composition) are whirling through each other, constantly reshaping the symbols of tradition.

Yota Morimoto

The whole exhibition, as such, is maybe the first one that really successfully fits into GEM’s new space, bringing together such diverse works as Vreven’s unobtrusive object and König’s spectacular installation and balancing the whole with Morimoto’s and Raaijmakers’ works.

Yota Morimoto

However it also makes you wonder if a far bigger exhibition in the Gemeentemuseum wouldn’t have been more appropriate, as many other artists are working in the field of sonology, and who need a much bigger audience than the visitors of GEM, which now seems to be a kind of bonus for visiting the Fotomuseum (Museum for Photography).

Yota Morimoto

Give sound more space; it is worth it!

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to all artists, the estate of Dick Raaijmakers and GEM, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Tamara Dees, bare; Twelve Twelve gallery, The Hague

Ships are immensely important for seafaring nations anywhere in the world.

Their significance is not just economic; they are vessels of life, emotion, hope, hardship, fortune and misfortune and of history.

On the other hand, in our modern and postmodern times younger generations seem to have become a bit estranged to them, used as we are now to road and air traffic.

Boats and the sea have become props and backdrop of leisure and entertainment, while the notion of their monumental, almost passionate interaction has confined itself to those who work at sea and in harbours.

Tamara Dees (1971), who has a fine and intriguing exhibition this summer at Twelve Twelve gallery, seems to have a good feeling for that monumentality.

From the small scope of one small person she combines different aspects of culture with the reality and the surreal of (mostly) wooden ships.

Using pieces of the real thing and of images, her works seem to become a kind of big fragmented ghost ship.

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to Tamara Dees and Twelve Twelve gallery, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Sam Keogh, Orbital Debris; 1646, The Hague

Sam Keogh (1985) presently shows his sculptural, multi-video space work Orbital Debris at 1646.

Against the background of a soundtrack made by The Iduna Institute for Strategic Imitation & Delay, and a gallery turned into a plastic grotto, the whole installation seems to be a collection of everything and anything, both material and emotional, that could become orbital debris in case we are too sloppy with the planet and space, or even orbital debris within our heads.

Even in a grand cosmic context our policies, our technology, our sentiments and our rubbish seem to be the output of world capitalist negligence and waste.

However, in another way the installation is an interesting and many faced work of sculpture, including sound and space, although the videos take the forefront as far as i’m concerned.

It looks a bit like the ambitious aims for Space of the 1960s but with its optimism replaced by mystification.

There is however very little sci-fi-ish about Keogh’s presentation.

It is as if we are already living in future and have been doing so for some time.

In that way Orbital Debris almost becomes a sentimental work.

Its basic concept – to show some video’s in a weirdly restyled, darkish room and with a sound track – may however make it not really very surprising.

Well, i suggest you go there and experience it for yourself.

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to Sam Keogh and 1646, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Sean Cornelisse, Dissident Peace; …ism, The Hague

A handshake of peace and friendship by Sean Cornelisse (right) with a visitor.

Only during the weekend (14-15 July) Sean Cornelisse shows his project Dissident Peace at …ism  project space (another relatively new artistic development in The Hague).

‘“Why are you here?” I asked him. “Why disrupt the serenity of this assembly with your sinister presence?” “I come,” he replied, “from a far away land, might find here the God of law, justice and peace, whose altar is said to be in The Hague.”’

‘Mister Tjoune, one of the Koreans who protested against not inviting Korea for the Peace Conference, has suddenly died Sunday night in his hotel at Wagenstraat in this city. He had an abscess on his cheek; this was taken away operatively. The operation very much overwhelmed Mister Tjoune, and he died of the effects. Already today his burial took place at “Eikenduinen.” No mourning relatives, no sympathising band of friends followed the small funeral procession. The only participants were the first member of the deputation, the vice-minister Yi-Sang-Sul, and the owner of the hotel where both stayed.’

The project is partially an homage to the Second Peace Convention of The Hague of 1907 and in particular to the still unclarified death on July 14^th of the Korean would be representative Yi Jun, whose place of death at Wagenstraat is now the Yi Jun Peace Museum, which has become a place of pilgrimage to Korean visitors.

…ism’s project room has been refurbished in the style of the Yi Jun Museum and Korean tea is served with Korean biscuits.

Surabayan Commercial Paper ; State- and Literary Daily Paper of Dutch East India.

Cornelisse shows copies of local newspapers of the time, both reporting about and critical of the Convention, and with pictures of the Korean troika who wanted to take part but were refused at the instigation of the Japanese.

Cornelisse mixes the facts and the fiction with calligraphy somewhat reminiscent of Henri Michaux and with a fine touch of absurdism.

The Hague, July 3rd 2018.
With this despatch the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers its apologies, in name of the cabinet and the King. It acknowledges that it has discredited the People´s Republic of Korea during the second peace convention at The Hague, June 1907. Recognising herewith to have an interest in the territory of Dutch East India. As an expression of goodwill we present all documentation about this to the National Archive for free.

Go there in peace, i’d say!

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to Sean Cornelisse and …ism, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

Graduation Festival 2018, Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Hague

Quentley Barbara

I went to the Royal Academy of Art to write a review for Villa La Repubblica of this year’s graduation show of my old school. Click here to read the review in Villa La Repubblica (in Dutch).

Quentley Barbara

Like last few years the quality is quite high.

Quentley Barbara

So much so that our provincial town of The Hague can hardly swallow it.

Constantijn Scholten

As i have written quite extensively in Villa La Repubblica i leave you here with some things that caught my eye, including details of works by artists i discussed in the VLR review.

Constantijn Scholten

I wish all graduates the very best and i hope their work will gain some meaning in our harsh world.

Constantijn Scholten

Thursday July 12^th is the last day you can see the show.

Sara Ceruti

Sara Ceruti

Sara Ceruti

Samira Saidi

Samira Saidi

Samira Saidi

Elza de Bruin

Elza de Bruin

Milda Vysniauskaite

Milda Vysniauskaite

Cristiana Vignatelli Bruni

Hsu Wai Lun

Hsu Wai Lun

Hsu Wai Lun

Leonie Schneider

Leonie Schneider

Leonie Schneider

Luuk Kuipers

Luuk Kuipers

Janne Schipper

Janne Schipper

Janne Schipper

Marina Heuvelman

Marina Heuvelman

Sam Andrea

Sam Andrea

Sam Andrea

Cedric ter Bals

Cedric ter Bals

Cedric ter Bals

Daniël Siegersma

Daniël Siegersma

Daniël Siegersma

Jonathan Hielkema

Jonathan Hielkema

Leandros Ntolas

Leandros Ntolas

Joana Schneider

Joana Schneider

Trijntje Noske

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to the artists and the Royal Academy of Art, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters

The Future is Female; PARTS Project, The Hague

Aase Seidler Gernes

Surely “the future is female” may sound like a statement to which some people, notably males, might react with some fear.

Aase Seidler Gernes

However, whether one’s business is in seeds or in eggs, we all need a future and “the future is female” will certainly not imply a more peaceful future.

Sister Corita Kent

At best it would imply a bit of a more just future regarding the relationship between the sexes, and, let’s be fair, that is quite basic in life and society (as justice is always basic).

Katharina Grosse

Katharina Grosse

Does that have anything to do with the present exhibition at PARTS Project?

Karin Sander

Karin Sander

Not really, except that, apart from the text writer, the actors are an all female cast.

Sylvie Fleury

Sylvie Fleury

The texts (in Dutch) are by male artist Twan Janssen who regularly gives his thoughts about works of present day art on Facebook.

Yael Davids

Yael Davids

These thoughts are intuitive and personal, sometimes a bit poetic or philosophical.

Yael Davids

Rosemarie Trockel

Generally Janssen makes clear how the visual arts, this world of signs and meanings, can accompany human life and can have a personal impact on one’s ways of seeing.

Rosemarie Trockel

Lucia Tallova

In Janssen’s case it also means a lot of love for these signs and meanings, love he has in common with many an art collector.

Daniëlle Kwaaitaal

And that is how it is possible that for instance such sugar sweet works like Lily van der Stokker’s are in the same room as the once virgin canvasses that were sent into the world by Karin Sander to become stained and assaulted, as we all are, male or female.

Rose Wylie

Lily van der Stokker

The concept of intuitive and associative texts combined with works of art works very well.

AnneMarie van Splunter

Roos van Haaften

Text writer Janssen worked together closely with curator Francis Boeske and the result is this already 10^th of the PARTS projects of which i sincerely hope there will be more in future, female or not.

Roos van Haaften

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

© Villa Next Door 2018

Content of all photographs courtesy to the artists, the owners of the works and to PARTS Project, Den Haag

Bertus Pieters